Train-control apparatus



. Sept. 25, 1928. 1,685,479

7 T. E. CLARK ET AL TRAIN CONTROL APPARATUS Filed 001;: 24, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 |NVENTOR5 24nd XTTORNEY Sept. 25, 1928.

1,685,479 T. E. CLARK El AL TRAIN CONTROL APPARATUS Filed Oct. 24, 1925 25heets-Sheet 2 I TINVENTORIEI Patented Sept. 25, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS E. CLARK AND JAMES E. CLARK, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOBS To CONTINUOUS TRAIN CONTROL CORPORATION, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A COR- PORATION OF MICHIGAN.

TRAIN-CONTROL APPARATUS.

Application filed October 24, 1925. Serial No. 64,524.

This invention relates to means for controlling the operation of railway train-s by propagating electromagnetic currents of predetermined wave lengths in the trackway and by affecting instrumentalities on the locomotive by the currents obtained by passing 1 proper collector coils mounted on the vehicle along adjacent the rails to cut the line of force of such currents, and it consists in a novel collector coil so positioned on the locomotive between the rails and near one of the rails that the general plane of the coil will be inclined to the plane of the track and toward said rail and so that the axis of the coil will be generally tangent to the direction of the spiral electro-magnetic lines of force which result from the current propagated in said rail.

It also consists in so inclining the collector coil that its general plane will pass through approximately the axis of gravity of the rail.

It'fu'rther consists of the details of construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is" a side elevation of a locomotiveshowing the position of our improved collector coils; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a locomotive pilot, a portion being broken away to show the positions oi our collector coils. Fig. 53 is a diagram illustrating the electro-magnetic waves of our novel oscillatingcircuit and the relation of the collector coils thereto. Fig. 4 is an elevation and Fig. 5 is a vertical. secs tion of a collector coil and its case. 7 Fig; 6 is a diagram or an oscillating circuit.

In our co-pending application, Serial No. 31.633, filed May 20, 1925, we have shown diagrammatically an oscillating circuit in cluding a transformer for propagating electromagnetic waves of predetermined wave lengths in track rails. lVhile testing this installation'we found that the desired electrical conditions in the rails were effective to control instrumentalities on the locomotive for only limited sections of track, depending somewhat on the wave lengths, and that these conditions were stabilized to some extent by connecting a loading condenser of quite large capacity across between the rails at a distance from the point where the current transmitting mechanism was connected to the rails. these rails'being divided into blocks and the transmitting mechanism being connected to the exit ends of the blocks. lVith this loadingcondenser connected across between the rails, we found that the variations of dissipation of current due to wet, dry, or frozen ballast between this condenser and the point 0t connection of the propagating device were not so marked.

The. transmitting mechanism or transformer is shown diagrammatically in Fig. (3 and con prises a vacuum tube 38 having 31 plate ii a grid 42 and a filament 37. This filament is heated by the battery 13 whenever its circuit is closed, which occurs when the rail block con'iprising the track section extending between the insulations 3 in the rails 1 and 2 and the condenser 20, is occupied, short circuiting the relay 7, which permits its armature a to close the circuit: over the wire 12, filament 37, adjustable resistance 39, wires 14 and 27, armature 7 and wire 1].

The main oscillating circuit consists of the battery 36, wire 14, resistance 39, filament 37, the gap between it and the plate 45, wire 48. coil 47, and wire elfito the battery. The ire quencies and wave lengths are partially controlled by the adjustable condenser 50 which shunts the plate coil 47. This battery 36 is usually termed the B battery and'is pret.

erably o? 350 voltage. Any other proper source ojlf current may be employed. The grid. 42 connects to the circuit of the battery 13 by means of the grid leak 44 and condenser 43 and the grid coil 40, and this circuit, to

gether with the condenser 50, controls the production and rate of the oscillations.

'The loading coil 52 connects to the wires 5 and (3, which connect relay 7 to the rails, by means of wires 32 and 33, a condenser .35 being provided to prevent the passage of direct signal currents and the short circuiting of the track circuit. This coil 52 and its connecting wires, the rails 1 and 2 of the con-,

trolled section between the wires 5 and 6 and the condenser 20, and this condenser 20, constitute the output oscillating circuit. The

elect'ro-map'netic waves of this circuit may be used to sheet instrumentalities on the locomotive passing over this track section and which are tuned thereto, at which time the leading pilot axle 20 of the locomotive and the wheels 21 thereon affect these wave lengths to some extent.

preferred type In order to render the wave lengths of the electro-inagnetic currents in the rails as near ly uniform as possible, the loading coil is formed to have such an excess of millihenrys of inductance in proportion to the inductance of the rail section between the Wires 5 and 6 and the condenser 20, that the total inductance of the active oscillating circuit is not materially affected by the change in length of the rail portion thereof by a locomotive moving along the section from the condenser 20.toWard the insulations 3.

The linesof force seem to travel spirally around the rails 1 and 2 in opposite directions in Zones of considerable diameter, these waves being indicated by the lines 23 in Figs. 2 and 3an'd 2a in Fig. 6. At the same time, other lines of force seem to pass from one rail to the other, as indicated by the lines 25 in Fig. 3. lVe have found that strong GlGCCIO-llltlflnetic waves pass around the axle 20, as indicated in Fig. 6, and that a strong held of these lines of force travels along just in front of the wheels 21 as the locomotives move to ward'lhe joints 3.

The coils forming part of the collector circuits described in our said pending application are-therefore preferably mounted just in frontof the pilot wheels 2land as near to the rails as traltic conditions will permit. The of coil is shown in Figs. 4 and 5 and consists of a core 163 from which pins 164, Whose numb-er is a multiple of four, ex-

tcnd radially. Insulated wire 165 is'wound upon these pins circumferentially of the hub,

.lying on one side of two adjacent pins and then passing across and lying on the opposite side of the two next adjacent pins,.until thedesired number of circumferentialturns are produced. This may be termed a basket weavecoil. The ends of the coil are connected to the usual binding posts 160 and 161 and the core 163. may be secured tothe bottom 151 of a case of non-magnetic material, such as wood, the body 153 of this case being preferably circular and fitted with a head lfilwhich may beattached to a bracket or trunk 150 extending down froma bolster 1-52 of the locomotive. Wires extend from these binding posts to the'other instrumentalities described in said copendin applica tion.

v Instead of this coil, the wire may be wound into a ring l lO (Fig. 2) secured between two alates 1&1, and this structure may be mounted in the case just described. In every case. how

ever the 'enera'l olane of the coil-should preferably pass through the axis of these spiral electro-magnetic lines of force 23 which seems to be about the center of gravity of tlierail. It should also lie along the lines of the electro-niagnetic lines of force'25 which may be said to constitute an electro-magnetic arch between the rails. The axis of the coil will therefore be substantially tangent to the direction ofthe spiral lines of force 23, just in front of the axle 20.

1. In a train control system, the combination with the rails of thetrackway and means to propagate high-frequency currents of predetermined wave lengths therein so as to induce electromagnetic lines of force and flux around. the rails throughoutdefinite distances, a vehicle onsaid rails, anda fiat collector coil n'iounted on the vehicle between the rails to cut said lines of force and having its axis substantially tangent to the direction of said lines of-force, said coil being positioned adjacent said rail in a direction inclined to plane of the track. 7 V

2. In a train control system, the combination with the rails of the trackway and means to propagate high-frequency currents of predetermined wave lengths therein so as to induce electromagnetic lines of force and flux around the rails throughout definite distances, a vehicle on said rails, and a flat collector coil mounted on the vehicle between the rails to cut said lines of force and having its axis substantially tangent to the direction of said lines of force, said coil being positioned adjacent said rail with its transverse plane of symmetry inclined to theplane of the track so that said plane of symmetry will pass throughsaid adjacent rail. 7

3. In a train control system, the combination with the rails of thetrackway and means to propagate high-frequency currents of predetermined wave lengths therein so as to induce electromagnetic lines of force and flux around the rails throughout definite distances, a vehicle on said rails, and a collector coil mounted on the vehicle comprising a core, a circumferential row of pins extending radially therefrom, and a continuous insulated wire wound on said core around said pins so that it will lie on one side of two pins, then passing across and lyingon the opposite side of the next two pins said coil being so positioned that the plane of its pins is inclined to both the horizontal and vertical. 

